380 HIGHLAND ROADS AND BRIDGES. PART VIII. 



the few lean kyloes, which paid the rent and produced 

 wherewithal to pay for the oatmeal imported." l 



Telford' s first recommendation was, that a bridge 

 should be thrown across the Tay at Dunkeld, to connect 

 the improved lines of road proposed to be made on each 

 side of the river. He regarded this measure as of the 

 first importance to the Central Highlands ; and as the 

 Duke of Athol was willing to pay one-half of the cost of 

 the erection, if the Government would defray the other 

 the bridge to be free of toll after a certain period it ap- 

 peared to the engineer that this was a reasonable and just 

 mode of providing for the contingency. In the next 

 place, he recommended a bridge over the Spey, which 

 drained a great extent of mountainous country, and, 

 being liable to sudden inundations, was very dangerous 

 to cross. Yet this ferry formed the only link of com- 

 munication between the whole of the northern counties. 

 The site pointed out for the proposed bridge was ad- 

 jacent to the town of Fochabers, and here also the Duke 

 of Gordon and other county gentlemen were willing to 

 provide one-half the means for its erection. 



Mr. Telford further described in detail the roads 

 necessary to be constructed in the north and west High- 

 lands, with the object of opening up the western parts 

 of the counties of Inverness and Ross, and affording a 

 ready communication from the Clyde to the fishing- 

 lochs in the neighbourhood of the Isle of Skye. As to 

 the means of executing these improvements, he suggested 

 that Government would be justified in dealing with the 

 Highland roads and bridges as exceptional and extra- 

 ordinary works, and extending the public aid towards 

 carrying them into effect, as but for such assistance the 

 country must remain, perhaps for ages to come, imper- 

 fectly connected. His report further embraced certain 

 improvements in the harbours of Aberdeen and Wick, 



1 Extract of a letter from a gentleman residing in Sutherland, quoted in 

 ' Life of Telford,' p. 465. 



